Madsen will give seminar on North American dinosaurs

Paleontologist James Madsen, an expert on allosaurus and other dinosaurs that lived in western North America during the late Jurassic Period 145 million years ago, will give a seminar at 4 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 10) in Room 1300, Chemistry Building.

In the mid-1960s, Madsen directed the assembly of the Exhibit Museums standing skeletal reconstruction of Allosaurus fragilis, the largest meat-eating dinosaur of its time.

He recently helped the Museum install a new, more accurate skull on its allosaur. In the seminar, he will share some of his experiences from more than 30 years of fossil hunting and reconstructing dinosaur skeletons for museums throughout the world.

To commemorate the event, a new temporary display called Allosaurus Revisited: A North American Dinosaur will open in the Exhibit Museum Rotunda Friday (Sept. 11) and run through December.

The display includes recent acquisitions by the Exhibit Museum of allosaur fossil bone casts, showing examples of stages in growth, abnormalities from fractures and infections, and the size and shape of the brain case.

The new fossil casts eventually will be incorporated into the permanent dinosaur displays on the Museums second floor Hall of Evolution.